Itasha Car Show at Odaiba

Yesterday at Odaiba there was a car show that featured the odd combination of American muscle cars and itasha. Itasha is the latest Japanese fad, in which fans of anime and manga plaster their cars with large images of their favorite characters.

The term “itasha” means literally “painful car,” painful for both the wallet and the ego because the itasha know full well that real car guys look upon their rides with disdain. It can also be a pun for “Italian car” although itasha fans often use BMWs or otherwise desireable 180SXs, Soarers and Evos as a canvas.

I didn’t go to the show, but got the above photo from Mooneyes, which says (thankfully) there were many empty spaces and the show was kind of a dud.

4 Responses to Itasha Car Show at Odaiba

Cool… I didn’t know it already had its own name. 😀
I did find an amazing video from the Dreamcar Club visiting an “Itasha” meeting. Lots and lots of otaku there, and especially the GX81 Mark II is really looking like the room of Densha Otoko:http://www.banpei.net/blog/hilarious-dorifuto-otoko

And indeed that meeting was also packed with exotics like the S15, Skylines and a few European sportscars. 😉